


I Caught Fire

by Billywick



Category: Dota 2
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-29
Updated: 2015-05-29
Packaged: 2018-04-01 20:25:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4033387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Billywick/pseuds/Billywick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The war between the Dire and the Radiant is over and there ain't much to do for a man and his bat. Especially if ya can't stop thinking about that fiery goddess that kicked your ass so many times.</p><p>[exchange fic for shelzie, first attempt at these two characters]</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Caught Fire

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Shelzie](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Shelzie).



It was the flames he missed. The slow tingle, the singe and pain of fire searing through every touch. Getting burned had never felt so pleasant, and Jin’zakk knew all about playing with fire.

It was indisputably his element. Both in terms of fighting and temper. He didn’t care about his reputation, a short, fiery temper coupled with what many considered a bat-shit crazy mindset. That term always brought a toothed grin to his scarred face. A batshit-crazy batrider? Yeah, sounded right to him.

But even batshit crazy people with cute, deadly mounts got the blues sometimes. Not that he would ever straight up admit it if someone asked, but who would? 

War forged allies from the most unlikely sources, but friendships were hard-won and not everyone’s strength. Especially considering how many demons and other murderous entities had comprised the side Jin’zakk found himself on.

He didn’t join the war for a strong purpose. There was no motive of vengeance or fame for him. But it had been a hell of a good time. Fighting got his blood into that boiling, burning state he loved so much. Seeing everything bathed in glorious fire, flying through the haze of ravenous flames, that was what he loved. And there’d been plenty of it.

Still, here he was, biding his time at a bar full of people he didn’t really want to know and the war was over. That glorious inferno was no longer with any purpose, and Jin’zakk was at a loss.

Not because he lost his own purpose, but because something other than the mysterious old rock they’d protected had been lost. There’d been someone in this war, someone who gave him a feeling he never knew before. Someone on his level. Someone who understood the beauty of fire, and someone who was never afraid to be burned.

Her name was Lina Inverse, the Slayer, and what a damn splendid woman she was. Fierce, bold and so damn hot. 

She’d been on the enemy side, fighting alongside a frosty young woman who was later revealed to be her sister, but Jin’zakk never got the feeling that Lina really joined for anything more than he did.

She let him have it though. He couldn’t count the times that fire had clashed with fire, Lina meeting him with the world in the palms of her hands and setting it aflame. 

Jin’zakk looked down into his glass, swirling the last sad dregs of his liquor around aimlessly. He felt just about as pointless as the little drops of alcohol. How could a woman he’d been fighting half the time make such an impact on him? Wasn’t he batshit-crazy? Since when did his feelings get so messed up?

Because the other half of the time, he’d been having the undoubtedly hottest sex that ever crossed this damn world. Kissing Lina was..Well. How to describe it? How to begin?

Like the literal and proverbial moth, he’d been drawn to her flame the moment he laid his eye on the fiery beauty. And she had looked right back, with that self-righteous, proud smirk on her face. She knew his every thought, could command the heat in his body without even getting close.

It had been amazing, and the burn marks of their first rampant meeting alone were treasured memories to him. Streaks of where Lina’s flames had seared his skin a dark maroon mapped out the tale across his shoulders and hips. Jin’zakk figured he’d burned his face plenty too, but what were a few marks on his already marred visage? They were hella worth it.

So had been their story. No up and down, but certainly a lot of back and forth. They fought, they fucked and all of it had been nothing short of a flaming romance.

Jin’zakk hadn’t thought hard about it until now, when it wasn’t in his life anymore. The war was over, and Lina had a life that involved no batriders and no romance. Or so he figured. He hardly had the opportunity to go looking for her now and even if he did, would it make such a difference?

Lina was anything but sentimental. How many times had he heard and seen her harsh words, her cruelty in battle? True, it all turned him on like crazy. Every barrage of flames, every lightning channelled through those hands...Lina was a goddess among mortals.

The alcohol was making him sappy, he couldn’t explain the wallowing feeling in his gut at the thought of her. 

Lina, this goddess, what interest would she have in him now? The war was over. Their tense affair, full of the thrill of being caught out, it was done. It was nothing more than a well played game from both sides, and it was over.

But what could he done differently? Nothing. He was pretty sure that he’d gotten the most out of their strange time together already, but his gut, his chest, his damn heart was just not ready to admit to all of that.

Fuck it. Maybe he really should call it done with, pack up and fly home. Or wherever else he fancied. He knew his precious bat at least deserved a break and maybe some solitude away from people would fix his head up too. Maybe a beach, definitely somewhere hot.

And yet, he was still sitting here, listening to the buzz of conversations, breathing in the strange scents of the various smokes filling the room. 

The gentle clatter of a glass placed in front of him distracted Jin’zakk from his defeated thoughts. A sort of clear liquid, definitely not something he’d ordered greeted him, but only for a moment before the drink was aflame, a blue little fire dancing on top of the alcohol.

“Barkeep, what’s this about?” 

“You look like you need to be drunk. It’s on me, hotshot.”

That voice. The note of pride smouldering through. His body reacted with heat before he even looked over into Lina’s face.

“Only if you join me.”

The smug expression hitched into a smirk.

“Then the next three rounds are on you. And then you’re gonna take me for a spin on your bat.”

“You got it babe.”


End file.
